School of Humanities

Welcome to the School of Humanities
Whether you are a visitor to Rice, or a past, current or future Rice student, or a member of our faculty and staff, this site is your guide to the humanities at Rice.

Research & Creative Works

Faculty at Rice pursue research, teaching, and service. As a research university, Rice's mission is to create new knowledge. Faculty in the School of Humanities create new knowledge in the form of books, articles, artworks, and more. We disseminate that knowledge by publishing or exhibiting our work.

Student Life

The School of Humanities at Rice University is a top liberal arts college rolled into a research university. Its small scale, combined with its research focus, brings advantages to both the undergraduates and to the graduate students in its five PhD-granting departments.

News & Events

Want to catch an art exhibition, listen to a scholar of great renown give a talk, or see a play? Look here for short- and long-term events and milestones. Check our events calendar for what to do tonight.

Support the School of Humanities

School of Humanities

Welcome to the School of Humanities
Whether you are a visitor to Rice, or a past, current or future Rice student, or a member of our faculty and staff, this site is your guide to the humanities at Rice.

Research & Creative Works

Faculty at Rice pursue research, teaching, and service. As a research university, Rice's mission is to create new knowledge. Faculty in the School of Humanities create new knowledge in the form of books, articles, artworks, and more. We disseminate that knowledge by publishing or exhibiting our work.

Student Life

The School of Humanities at Rice University is a top liberal arts college rolled into a research university. Its small scale, combined with its research focus, brings advantages to both the undergraduates and to the graduate students in its five PhD-granting departments.

News & Events

Want to catch an art exhibition, listen to a scholar of great renown give a talk, or see a play? Look here for short- and long-term events and milestones. Check our events calendar for what to do tonight.

Being a Rice Owl comes with many advantages, including the opportunity to work closely with faculty on research that matters. For Lovett College junior Allen Simon ’16, a summer fellowship gave him the chance to delve into the paranormal while working with renowned professor Jeffrey J. Kripal, the J. Newton Rayzor Chair in Philosophy and Religious Thought, on Kripal’s latest book project.
Simon began working closely with Kripal after receiving an Undergraduate Research Fellowship from the Humanities Research Center. Simon first reached out to him when he learned that they shared an interest in the writer Aldous Huxley and in the experiential aspects of religion.
“Dr. Kripal looks at things that most people probably wouldn’t consider in the realm of religion,” Simon said, “like the paranormal, UFOs and abductee accounts. There are elements in there that are very similar to religious experiences. It’s really interesting.”
As a part of the fellowship, Simon helped Kripal explore the intersections between religious narratives and science fiction. When Kripal gave his research fellow responsibility and trust, Simon discovered a new side of scholarship.
“My work involved collecting and reading material, like stories of alien encounters and out-of-body experiences, that Dr. Kripal had not seen yet and explaining it to him,” said Simon. “I was really excited to have such an eminent scholar for whom I have a great deal of respect treat me as an equal in that way. Since that experience, I've gotten so much better at identifying and exploring my own interests in religious studies.”
At the School of Humanities, scholarship is strengthened by remarkable opportunities for students right here on the Rice campus. Personalized attention from faculty and an Undergraduate Research Fellowship gave Allen Simon the chance to merge his work in the classroom with a dynamic research experience, sharpening his distinctive Owl Edge.
The Initiative for Students seeks to create more such opportunities in the School of Humanities, providing our students with journeys that begin at Rice and span the globe. To fund an undergraduate research fellowship, or to learn more about the Humanities Research Center or the Initiative for Students, please contact Jeanette Zey, Senior Director of Development for the School of Humanities, at jzey@rice.edu or 713-348-4669.